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French trust Socialist star on economy, poll shows

PARIS — Ségolène Royal, the woman most likely to represent the Socialist Party in presidential elections next year, is perceived to be more credible on economic policy than all the male contenders on left and right, including three former finance ministers, according an opinion poll.

That was one of the more surprising results of a broad-ranging poll conducted for La Tribune, and one that the financial newspaper decided to omit when it published the poll's other results Monday.

The news only made it into print on Tuesday, after two journalists' unions at the paper issued a joint statement denouncing the omission as "censorship."

The editor of La Tribune, François- Xavier Pietri, justified his decision to initially leave out the figures on politicians' economic credibility by saying that he had planned to run a separate piece on that question in the Tuesday edition, which the paper did.

According to the poll, 54 percent of respondents trust Royal the most on economic and social policy issues, compared with 49 percent for her main contender on the right, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who led the Finance Ministry in 2004.

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The poll also showed that French people have become less pessimistic about economic prospects.

The poll was conducted by the CSA institute on Aug. 23. It involved telephone interviews with 1,006 people. No margin of error was provided.

The poll results were especially notable since Royal, a former family and schools minister, has been accused by opponents on the left and right of lacking ideas, especially in economic policy.

Sarkozy said over the weekend that Royal's contribution to the pre-election debate had been "close to zero." A week earlier, in a thinly veiled attack on Royal, Jospin said: "Form does not make substance, technique does not replace politics."

Royal, who has expressed admiration for Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain and for the Swedish social model in recent months, has so far unveiled very little about her economic program.

Along with other Socialists, she signed off on a preliminary party program in July that envisages extending the 35-hour workweek to small companies, renationalizing the power company Électricité de France and raising the minimum wage. This week, she said that French labor unions should broaden their membership to become more representative.